So, it's that time again. We're here on the island after a great trip down and looking forward to seeing some great long-time friends and hopefully, making some new ones, too! The AA flight we booked had a schedule change weeks back and for some reason it departed much later than the normal 7:30 ish time which was wonderful - we got to sleep in our own beds until 5 am and had plenty of time to make it in to JFK on time. We were scheduled to take off at 9:25 and after a somewhat late start beginning to the boarding process we still managed to get off on time and landed here in SXM right on time, and as unlikely as it seems for a Saturday, we were the only plane in at that moment so it was clear sailing through immigration, although I'm thinking the upfront seats helped with that, too.

Baggage claim was another story. I'm firmly convinced those shockingly orange stickers they put on your bags are to indicate which ones to take off last, but aha! We weren't the last bags out - one came right away and then we waited. And waited! And just as they started to put the next load on the conveyor something happened and the baggage system went down completely. And so, we waited some more. But in the end all our stuff appeared and we cleared the airport in reasonable time.

We met Lesley on the sidewalk and had to wait a couple minutes (perhaps all of five?) for our car but that was fine by us. And we got to play catch-up with Lesley Bruce for a bit. Shirley was bringing our car over and she got landlocked because of all the Sunset Bar looky-lookers. Thank you, Shirley and Lesley - you always go that extra mile. You really are the BEST in my book.

Arrived at the Towers and since our normal room wasn't available, they asked us if we would mind staying in a penthouse two bedroom suite for the full two weeks. I am psyched. No move again this trip. YES!! And the best part, though I wasn't expecting it, was even though we aren't a penthouse floor owner, we still receive full daily house-keeping. I'm kind of a neat- nut so that in itself isn't such a big deal to me, but I do hate making the bed on vacation, almost as much as I hate looking at an unmade bed, so we'll see how this goes.

Jeannie had been in and stocked our unit already, so while the maids did the finishing touches in the suite, we had lunch out at the pool just in time for happy hour to start. Caught up on a little Towers chatter and then headed to our suite. Gorgeous views from all the balconies so I know it's going to be a wonderful two weeks here.

Unpacked and organized ourselves and before we knew it, it was time for dinner so we made delicious sandwiches and drinks in the unit. Neither one of us wanted to go anywhere after traveling all day so it was the perfect way for US to start our trip.

Decision time - do we take the master bedroom suite on the main level, or the more removed upper floor bedroom and bath......? Who really wants to lug those suitcases up all those stairs?........Life is hard with all these big decisions but we finally made it and off to bed and to lalaland to awaken to a beautiful Sunday in St. Maarten. Where to begin and what to do today............tbc